LSARRC News 31st July 2018

On Saturday 28th July Lytham juniors impressed at the Mid Lancs athletics meeting, with 2 gold medals for Rebecca Fisher. 

Six members made the long journey to Barrow for the last meeting in atrocious weather.  Morgan Pritchard ran the U13 boys 800m in 2:45.9 coming 5th, Rebecca Fisher won the U13 girls Shot Putt with 6.61m, came second in the U13 girls Discus with 18.36m and won the U13 girls High Jump with 1.30m. Greg Oulton came 4th in Sen Men Shot Putt with 5.64m, 3rd in Sen Men Discus with 14.05m and 3rd Sen Men Javelin with 14.92m. Although not competing, Sylvia Gittins, Dawn Lock and Bill Lock attended along with Greg Oulton as officials to fulfil the club's obligations to the Mid Lancs League, without which our juniors wouldn't be allowed to compete.

Graham Webster attended another hot evening track meeting at Ashton -under-Lyne last Wednesday, the Northern Masters 5000m championships.  Lytham’s Graham Webster recovering from Mondays interclub race ran a creditable 12&1/2 lap of the track to finish 9th from 21 runners to win a silver medal for 2nd v65.

37 Lytham members ran the Wesham Inter Club on Monday, first home for Lytham was Mike Toft in 24:59 (6th place) and first lady was Liz Abbott in 26:47 (1st lady and 30th overall).

Also on Wednesday, Ross McKelvie, Dez Appleton, Lewis Mcafee, Ben McCabe and Greg Oulton competed at the third Harrock Hill fell race of the year.  A 5 mile race near Parbold that packs in 900ft of climbing.

On Thursday 17 members undertook the Summer Handicap in only slightly cooler conditions than last month. Won for the second month in a row by Steve Tate in a Season Best of 36:14 propelling him to the top of the leader board for the year. In a very close second place was Liz Abbott setting a new course record for ladies of 25:31.

Also at the weekend Neil Tate Caldervale 10m , 4 Lytham runners took to the course . Run in very wet conditions they took on the undulating course with great success. Catherine Carrdus coming first female , Alex Tate third male , with Alex Tate. Neil Tate and john Bertenshaw finishing first male team. The course, one undulating lap with challenging hills.

As usual several Lytham members attended parkruns across the country, over the weekend.  The highlight was Joe Greenwood finishing first at the Lytham parkrun in a new personal best time of 17:14.  Alistair Leivers came 3rd in a new pb of 18:15.  With Neil Tate, Graham Webster and Darran Ames finishing 11th, 14th and 15th respectively.  Jennifer Hill was 3rd female in 21:55.
 
Olivia Johnson Allen ran the Blackpool parkrun in 33:14. Further afield Laura Byrne ran the Penrith parkrun in 28:44.  Julie, Ella and Nicola Wiseman completed the Lanhdrock parkrun whilst Felicity Wolohan ran the princes parkun in Liverpool and finished a respectable 3rd lady in 21:02.  Neil Bayntun-Roberts was a tourist at the Bath Skyline parkrun and ran the course in 22:42.

LSARRC News 24th July 2018

LSARRC celebrates its 20th anniversary with a club record for Heidi Haigh and a second place in the Salwick Marathon.

Lytham St Anne’s Road Runners Club was founded in 1998 by Bryan Grundy so this year the club is celebrating its 20th anniversary. To mark 20 years of the senior section the club held a “Green Tie Ball” at Fylde Rugby Club on Friday night.

The green theme was eagerly embraced with many guests sporting items of green clothing. Seventy current and former members were serenaded by a solo guitarist during their three-course meal, which was followed by a DJ and enthusiastic dancing.

There was a ting of sadness to the evening as Bryan’s wife, Joyce, who did so much to help make the club what it is today, passed away earlier in the year. Bryan, now the club’s president spoke a few words before the meal about the early days, and a toast was proposed to Bryan, Joyce and the club.  This was the best social ever held in the 20-year history of the club.

On Friday 20th July Neil Tate attended the 7-day running festival in Salwick and opted to complete the Scorcher Marathon.  A six-lap undulating course around Salwick saw Tate lead for most of the race but was overtaken on the last lap to finish an impressive second.  This was Tate’s second marathon which he completed in 3:17:00.

Recently Heidi Haigh (v45) managed to acquire a new club record for completing the Lakeland Trials Ultra 55K (34’4 miles, 7,000 feet) in 9:27:08.

As usual lots of club members participated in parkruns around the country on Saturday, and several juniors attended the 2k junior parkrun on Sunday.  At Lytham the first 2 spots went to Joe Greenwood and Andy Unsworth, and Joanna Goorney was the first female, with Maddy Markham 3rd.

Full Results: Joe Greenwood 17:30 (1), Andy Unsworth 18:13 (2), Alex Tate 18:47 (5), Andrew Draper 18:59 (6), Joanna Goorney 20:16 (11), Alistair Leivers 20:35(13), Neil Bayntun-Roberts 20:40, Darran Ames 20:58 (17th), Maddy Markham 21:44 (25th), Jennifer Hill 21:49 (26th),
Gill Draper 22:33 (33rd), Kev Murray 23:17 (39th), Kathy Gaunt 24:14 (51st), G Browne 24:15 (52nd), Jacqui Murray 27:49 (101st), Julie Wiseman 30:08 (132nd), Ruth Bye 30:22 (135th), Sarah Bagshaw 32:50 (149th), Michelle Sheridan 33:13 (152nd), Jeremy McCandless 34:12 (154th) and Neil Tate 47:57 (180th).

Felicity Wolohan was 2nd female at the Penryn parkrun in 21:13, Lorna Jayne Cragg opted for the Preston parkrun and managed the course in 31:36.  Slightly further a field Ian Tate completed the Warrington parkrun in 21:41 whilst Stephen Tate attended the Burnley parkrun and finished in 25:39.  At the Bedgebury Pinetum parkrun Bob Clough ran 33:02 and John Bertenshaw came 16th at the Blackpool parkrun in 22:46.

On Sunday Jayden Richardson was first hoe at the junior parkrun in 7:47.  James McAfee finished his first parkrun in 15:09 and his brother Joshua finished in 16:50.   

LSARRC News 17th July 2018

LSARRC at the Windmill Half Marathon

A returning local favourite race, the Calder Vale 4 mile Supper Run hit the calendar on Thursday 12th July, providing 146 runners with a lovely scenic, country race route finished off with pie, peas and gravy after the race. 5 Lytham runners took on the race in another hot and sunny evening. First back for the club, and 7th overall was the youngest of the Tate brothers, Alex Tate, finishing in 23:06. Closely followed by brother Neil Tate in 10th place, 23:45. Lewis McAfee (46th) was third back for the club in 29:56, Stephen Tate (65th) in 32:40 and Dawn Lock (146th) in 55:18.

After a night of food, partying and dancing to celebrate LSARRC’s 20th Anniversary as a running club, a number of brave members ventured out for an early morning Saturday parkrun. 4 different parkruns across the UK.

Firstly, the home parkrun. Lytham Hall saw 16 members toe the start line on Saturday 14th July out of a total 201 runners. Another sunny morning around the beautiful grounds of Lytham hall saw Joe Greenwood storm home in 1st place in 17:23, just 8 seconds shy of his PB. Next through the finish line was Alistair Leivers (8th) in 19:32, followed by Mark Selby (11th) in 20:59, Graham Webster (19th) in 21:31 and hot on Graham’s heels was Neil Bayntun-Roberts in 21:35. The rest of the Lytham runners were Terry Hellings (21st) 21:39, Maddy Markham (33rd, 3rd female) 23:12, Jennifer Hill (37th) 23:49, Kate Benett (91st) achieving a new PB of 27:06 taking 35 seconds from her previous PB set only 1 week prior, Leoma Gill (99th) 27:54, Neil Tate (101st) 27:56, Karen Lanigan (118th) also setting a new PB in 29:19, Pamela Binns (124th) 29:56, Roberts Parker (149th) 32:04, Sarah Bagshaw (161st) 32:45 and Darran Ames (174th) 34:43.

Not too far away, 2 members took on Preston parkrun and the infamous Avenham Park hill. Liz Abbott had a fantastic run and achieved 1st female, 6th overall out of 371 runners and a new PB of 18:50. Also joining Liz was Gillian Oliver, who finished 265th in a time of 31:34.

Ian Tate took on Warrington parkrun and finished 49th overall out of 439 in a time of 21:49, and Joanna Goorney travelled slightly further afield to Killarney parkrun in Co. Kerry, Republic of Ireland. Out of the 41 parkrunners at the event, Joanna finished 7th overall and was second female home in 20:47.
Great runs by all for another fantastic showering of LSARRC runners supporting the local parkruns!
Junior parkrun on the Sunday morning at Park View was attended by 62 juniors, of which 4 were from Lytham Road Runners. A fantastic finish saw 1st, 2nd and 3rd places go to Lytham with only 14 seconds difference between 1st and 3rd places. Frankie Bell took 1st in a time of 07:29 also earning him a new PB, closely followed by Morgan Pritchard in 07:40 (2nd) and Jayden Richardson (3rd) in 07:43. Completing the finish line up was Finlay Hughes in 08:33 finishing in 8th place.

Ian Tate, Alex Tate & Dez Appleton - Windmill Half

Also on Sunday 16th July, the Windmill Half Marathon was awash with senior club members green vests. On an astoundingly warm morning with relentless sunshine and a humid breeze, 534 runners took to Fairhaven Lake to run the 2 lap course along Lytham Green and back, finishing inside the grounds of the Lake. The course was littered by supporters, including a number of Lytham Runners family and friends with drinks, hosepipes, sponges and supersoakers, all gratefully received by those running past in the scorching temperatures!

Jennifer Hill

First home for the club in 21st place overall was Alex Tate in 1:30:24, followed by first female home for the club Felicity Wolohan in 41st place overall clocking a time of 1:38:25. Darran Ames was next back in 57th position, 1:41:51, closely followed by Jennifer Hill in 1:42:09 (61st) and Dez Appleton (65th) in 1:43:00. Ian Tate was next in 1:47:35 (101st), James Buckley 1:50:15 (123rd), Susan Hawitt 1:57:18 (177th), Kevin Murray 1:57:19 (179th), Chris Bowker 1:59:23 (196th), Ross McKelvie 2:05:09 (244th), Lewis McAffee 2:05:09 (245th), Peter Reid 2:08:47 (272nd), Steve Tate 2:13:58 (305th), Laura Byrne 2:24:44 (388th), Kirsten Burnett 2:27:41 (407th) and Jacqui Murray 2:27:51 (410th). Fantastic efforts by all in tricky conditions!

Also racing on Sunday was Julia Rolfe who attended the Pendle Running Festival in Barley, Pendle.  Described as a ‘beautiful, scenic route in stunning Pendleside’ this was confirmed by Julia who said the race was very warm so conditions impacted runners, however it was a lovely route on an undulating course with a mix of paths, tracks, fields. In spite of this, Julia ran the course in 52:50 and placed her as 3rd FV55.

LSARRC News 10th July 2018

This weekend was another busy one for LSARRC. A huge 30 runners took part in parkruns over the country and worldwide! 27 runners competed in the local Lytham Hall parkrun. Joe Greenwood was first back with 17:37, Ross McKelvie was next with 18:48 and Joanna Goorney was the first lady with 20:53. Felicity Wolohan and James Buckley were next back with 20:57, Neile Bayntun-Roberts in 21:14, Neil Tate in 21:16 and Graham Webster in 21:26. Next over the finish line was Darran Ames in 21:27, Maddy Markham in 21:39, Morgan Pritchard in 21:45, Terry Hellings in 21:48 and Gil Draper in 22:21. The next Lytham runner back was Kev Murray is 23:51, Sue Hawitt in 24:08, Stephen Tate in 25:22, Kate Benett in 27:47, Leoma Gill I 27:47 and Jacqui Murray on 28:33. Maria Tierney was the next Lytham lady back in 29:25, Laura Byrne in 29:49, Karen Lanigan in 30:24, Pamela Binns in 30:51 and Sarah Bagshaw in 33:41. Rosa Gill crossed the finish line in 33:44, Robert Parker in 34:26 and Nicola Wiseman in 59:27.

There were many ‘parkrun tourist’ this weekend. Gillian Oliver ran in the Preston parkrun finishing in 31:05. Olivia Johnson Allen competed in the Blackpool Parkrun completing the course in 33:44. The most impressive ‘parkrunner’ this weekend was Richard Storey, who took part in the Anderson parkrun in New Zealand finishing in an impressive 23:14.

Not only did a lot of Lytham runners race in the parkrun on Saturday many others went on to compete in many other races around the county. Andy Draper and Paul Veevers competed in Lostock Hall Carnival race on Saturday. Paul Veevers stated it was a ‘fast, flat and very warm race!’ Well done to both runners Andy Draper finished in 17:17 coming fifth overall and Paul Veevers finished quickly after in 17:58 coming 10th overall.

Last Sunday two Lytham juniors raced in the Lytham Junior parkrun.  Jayden Richardson was the first runner back in 7:50 and Finlay Hughes was second boy and third overall, finishing in 8:15.

Heidi Haigh at the Lakeland trails

Also on Sunday Graham Webster travelled to Solihull to compete in the Inter area England Athletics Masters track and field challenge, where he competed in 3races. In temperatures nearing 30 degrees, the first race was the 1500m in which Graham finished 6th from 10 in a time of 5mins: 44:34. The next race was the 400m where Graham came 6th & 2nd vet65 in a time of 1min: 14:71.
Lastly, the 800m saw Graham finish 6th again in a very respectable time of 2mins: 55:56.

Heigh Haigh also took part in an event on Sunday. Heidi competed in the hilly Lakeland trails, she ran 55km on a very hot day finishing in an impressive 9 hours, 27 minutes and 8 seconds finishing 174th out of a field of 375 runners. This course included 3 mountain passes with a 7000fit ascent/descent! Well done Heidi!

As ever well done to all the runners who have competed in the races this weekend.

LSARRC News 3rd July 2018

Gold in the 1500m for talented junior Sophie Bohannon at 4th Mid-Lancashire fixture.

Sophie Bohannon

On 30th June seven of Lytham’s juniors made the trip to the fourth fixture in the Mid Lancs Track and Field League, which was hosted by Southport Waterlool AC and held at Litherland sports arena, Liverpool.  Under 13 girl Amara Thorpe was first on the track for Lytham finishing third in her heat of the 100m and third in division 2 earning 4 points for the club.  Amara also finished first in her heat of the 200m in 32.4 for a further 2 points and sixth in division 2 in the long jump with a jump of 3.5m for one more point.  With her preferred event of the hurdles not available at this fixture under 13 girl Rebecca Fisher chose to compete in three field events with considerable success.  In the high jump Rebecca equalled her pb with a jump of 1.3m finishing third in division 2 and earning 4 points for the club.  In her first ever shot-put competition Rebecca performed very well and managed a distance of 7.16m for top slot in division 2 and picking up a further 7 points.  Rebecca also took top spot in division 2 with a distance of 19.13m in the discus, a total of 18 points earned for Lytham.  Under 15 girls Maddy Markham and Brogane Murphy finished with identical times of 15.8s in 4th and 5th places respectively in their heat of the 100m.  Maddy went on to compete in the 1500 and with a fast finish managed to take 4th place overall and 2nd place in division 2 earning 5 points for Lytham.  Brogane chose the 800m and with another excellent sprint finish also finished 4th overall but first in division 2 in a personal best time of 2m 41.9s for 7 points.  Under 13 girl Sophie Bohannon switched from her usual 800m to the 1500m and her first attempt at distance proved a huge success winning comfortably by 30 plus metres in a time of 5m 24.9s and picking up a further 7 points for the club.  Sophie also made her debut over 200m and earned another 3 points for the club finishing 4th in division  2 in 31.1s.  Under 17 Laura Bremner also ran a personal best time in the 800m of 2m 44.3s to take first place in division 2 and earning 7 points for Lytham.  Laura made what turned out to be a good last-minute decision to run in the 200m as she finished 2nd in division 2 with a time of 32.4s for a further 5 points.  Lytham had just two under 13 boys, Frankie Ball and Morgan Pritchard, competing and both performed well.  Frankie’s first event as the 800m and in a very competitive heat finished 5th just outside his personal best in a time of 2m 30.7s (a time which would have won heat 2 comfortably) but 1st in division 2 for 7 points.  Frankie moved on to the long jump and on his last jump made a minor adjustment to his approach to make his best jump of the competition of 4.03m for 2nd place but first in division 2 for a further 7 points.  After a hard day Frankie finished with the 200m and again in the most competitive heat finished 5th but second in division 2 in 29.8s for 5 points, a total of 19 on the day for Frankie.  Under 13 team mate Morgan Pritchard ran in the 1500m and with his traditional sprint finish took 6th place but firsts in division 2 earning 7 points for Lytham. Morgan also picked up 4 points by finishing 3rd in division 2 in the 200m with a time of 33.1s.  A very successful day that saw the male team move up to third place in division 2 and the female team move up to fourth.

Greg Oulton also competed in the senior’s men’s competition and achieved the following.  shot 5.41m for 2nd in division 2 and 5 points.  javelin 14.5m 2nd in division 2 and 5 points, and discus 14.16m 2nd in division 2 and 5 points.

Special mention to Dawn Lock, Graham Webster and Greg Oulton of Lytham for officiating to enable our young athletes to compete.

Earlier in the week on Wednesday Terry and Greg Oulton travelled to Parbold to enter the Harrock Hill fell race. the race was preceded by a minute’s silence for the competitor who died during the race the previous month. At 5.25 miles and 750 feet, a tough race in normal conditions but in the current heatwave not for the faint of heart. Unfortunately, there are no results available yet.

On Thursday the club Handicap took place. With eleven runners competing, including two guests, the race was won by Steve Tate in 37:07 with the only Season Best of the night. Followed by Graham Webster (29:50), Roy Stevens (35:31), Alan Elstone (32:04), Sarah Gough (43:11), Trevor Roberts (43:07), Pam Binns (46:57), Lewis McAfee (37:47), Gillian Oliver (46:05), Sarah Bagshaw (52:03) and Dawn Lock (1:10:38). The leaders in the Championship re Alan Elstone (111 points), Steve Tate (107 points) and Roy Stevens (102 points).

On Sunday 1st July Greg Oulton went over to Colne to run the Trawden 7 trail race. Totalling just over 600 feet of climb in blistering heat his time of 1:15:30 was 7 minutes down on his last attempt but given the conditions he was more than happy with his performance.

Southport HM / 10k

On Sunday 1st July it was the Southport Half Marathon/10 K returning for its 6th and biggest edition to date. With an increased capacity and increased entertainment and music on the traffic free route which included Lord Street in Southport town centre and a start/finish area with live music and entertainment in Victoria Park.

Several Lytham female members attended the event and the results were as follows:  In the 10K, Kathy Gaunt ran 52:53 finishing 8th in her age category.  Kate Bennett ran 67:12 and Michelle Sheridan completed the 10K in 69:35.

For the Half Marathon Sue Hawitt completed the course in 2:09:35, Julie Wiseman ran 2:19:50 and Kirsten Burnett 2:19:51  Julie Wiseman ran fantastically well and achieved a 4-minute personal best time for Half a Marathon.


Michelle Sheridan described it as a great event, we set off to a live band of drummers called Batala Samba Drummers.  The conditions were unforgiving due to the heat. But we had great support including race angels.

At the Lytham parkrun on Saturday several Lytham runners braved the soaring heat.  Alex Tate was 5th overall, and 1st for Lytham in 18:55.  Mark Selby finished 8th in 20:44 followed by Darran Ames in 21:24 for 10th.  Jennifer Hill was 3rd female in 22:19. Juniors Leoma Gill completed the course on 28:58 and Rosa Gill in 32:02.  Other Results:  James Bickley 21:50, Stephen Tate 26:06, Gillian Oliver 30:12, Karen Lanigan 30:24, Bob Clough 31:18, Susan Hawitt 33:25, Laura Byrne 33:26, Neil Tate 33:27, Claire England 34:47, Michelle Sheridan 36:19, Amy Fletcher 36:53, Kate Benett 37:26, Jeremy McCandless 37:43, Ruth Bye 41:32 and Maria Tierney 48:44.

At the junior parkrun in Lytham, held on a Sunday, Jayden Richardson was 1 second of equalling his pb.  He ran 7:31 for 1st place.  Finlay Hughes was 4yh in 8:22 and Ella Wiseman was 17th in 9:58.

Terry Hellings, Graham Webster and Greg Oulton went to Cuerden Valley parkrun on Saturday on the way to Mid Lancs Track & Field in Ormskirk. On a hot day the hilly course was quite demanding with its 300 feet of climb. Terry Hellings finished in 24:00, Graham Webster in 25:10 and Greg Oulton in 30:04.